FrontLine ComProbe 802.11 User manual

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Quick Start Guide
Minimum System Requirements
lPC with Windows XP 32 bit, (Service Pack 2 or higher), Windows 7 (32
or 64 bit)
lPentium 2 GHz processor
lRAM Requirements: 2 GB minimum, 4 GB recommended
l100 MB free Hard Disk Space
lUSB 2.0 High Speed enabled port
Install Software
lFrom CD: Insert the ComProbe installer disk into your computer DVD
drive. Click on the Install CPAS shortcut and follow the directions.
lFrom Download: Download the latest ComProbe installer from FTE.-
com. Once downloaded, double-click the installer and follow the dir-
ections.
1 Attach Antennas
Remove the ComProbe 802.11 hardware from the box and attach the antennas to the two SMA connectors.
2 Apply Power
1. Insert the 12 volt AC adapter DC connector int the POWER jack on the
back panel.
2. Plug the 12 volt AC adapter into an AC power source. The front panel
POWER light illuminates.
3 Connect to the PC
1. Insert the USB cable into the USB jack on the back panel.
2. Insert the other end of the USB cable into a USB port on your PC.
3. It may take as long as thirty seconds for Windows operating system to recognize that the
ComProbe 802.11 is connected t the PC. The ACTIVITY light on the front panel will blink while the
connection is established. When the ACTIVITY light is steady the 802.11 is ready to communicate
with the ComProbe software on your PC.
4 Connect for ProbeSync Operation (optional)
The ComProbe 802.11 hardware has ProbeSync™ which allows for synchronization of ComProbe hardware
clocks and timestamping. One ComProbe device will act as the master device by providing the clock to the
slave device receiving the clock. Do not confuse "master" and "slave" with Bluetooth®device master and slave
relationships. When using the ComProbe 802.11 with a ComProbe BPA 600 the BPA 600 must always be the master ProbeSync device. Refer to the following
table.
Master Slave
No. 1 ComProbe 802.11 No. 2 ComProbe 802.11
ComProbe BPA 600 ComProbe 802.11
802.11 ProbeSync Relationships
1. Using a CAT 5 Ethernet cable (less than 1.5 meters (4.9 feet)) insert one end to the master ComProbe device OUT jack.
2. Insert the other end of the cable into the slave ComProbe device IN jack.

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5 Selecting a Data Capture Method
Now that the devices are on and the ComProbe 802.11 configured, the next step is to
run the ComProbe software and select the data capture method.
Open (double click on) "Frontline ComProbe Protocol Analysis System" from the Start
menu or from the “Frontline ComProbe Protocol Analysis System [version #] “ desktop
folder. Ensure that you have selected the latest ComProbe software if you have
multiple versions installed.
ComProbe software detects the hardware you have plugged in and automatically
presents the appropriate shortcuts. If you have just a ComProbe 802.11 plugged in,
you’ll see only the Virtual Sniffing and 802.11 Air Sniffing options presented:
1. Select 802.11.
2. Click on the Run button.
ComProbe software will open with the Control Window .
6 Hardware Settings
From the Control Window, select Hardware Settings from the Options menu.
Verify that your ComProbe 802.11 appears in the Sniffer field. If the 802.11 does not
appear then click on the Refresh List button.
Click on the OK button.
7 IO Settings
From the Control Window, select I/O Settings from the Options menu.
Channel - Select the channel you wan to capture from the drop-down.
Extension Channel - Allows you to extend the range of channels available
0 = Standard 1-14 Wi-Fi channels
-1 = Expanded channels below the standard range
+1 = Expanded channels above the standard range
FCS Filter - The Frame Check Sequence (FCS) filter selects whether or not frames with
invalid FCS should be captured. Options are All Frames,Valid Frames only, and Invalid
Frames only.
These settings are sufficient to begin a capture session. Additional I/O settings tabs provide
refined capture options beyond these fundamental settings. Refer to the ComProbe User
Manual provided with the installation package or on FTE.com.

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8 Security Settings
On the Set Initial Decoder Parameters dialog, the security tab allows specifying a key for software decryption of 802.11 frames.
To access this dialog:
1. In the Options menu on the Control window and choose Set Initial Decoder Parameters.
2. Select the Security tab.
Set the WPA2 or WEP parameters.
1. Select the WPA2 radio button. This activates the WPA2 and
WEP text boxes.
2. There are two values to set for the WPA2 and WEP keys.
a. WEP SSID (Service Set Identifiers) - the station ID of the 802.11 communications link.
b. WEP Passkey - .the shared passkey phrase used in communications.
3. Select OK to save the settings and close the dialog.
For additional information on setting up Bluetooth AMP or Pre-Shared Key security refer to the ComProbe 802.11 User Manual.
9 Start Capture
lClick the Start Sniffing icon on the Control window.
lAs data is being captured, the Capture Status message in the
Control window indicates the synchronization status of the 802.11
analyzer.
When you are capturing data, there are several important concepts to
consider.
lFiles are placed in My Capture Files by default and have a .cfa extension. Choose Directories from the Options menu on the Control window to change
the default file location.
lWatch the status bar on the Control window to monitor how full the file is. When the file is full, it begins to wrap , which means the oldest data will be over-
written by new data.
lClick the Stop icon to temporarily stop data capture. Click the Start Capture icon again to resume capture. Stopping capture means no data will be
added to the capture file until capture is resumed, but the previously captured date remains in the file.
10 Analyze Data
From the Control window toolbar select the following icons to view and analyze the captured data.
lEvent Display - for framed data, used to conduct byte-level analysis.
lFrame Display - for framed data, used to conduct protocol-level analysis.
lShow Statistics- supplies basic information about the data on the network..
lCoexistence View -provides a graphical view of packet in time sequence.
lWi-Fi Error Statistics - displays the percentage of packets with and without errors in a pie chart and in a table.
This quick start guide provides sufficient information to begin the data capture . Detailed hardware and software information is contained in the ComProbe
802.11 User Manual. The manual is available on FTE.com.
© 2014 Frontline Test Equipment, Inc
The Bluetooth SIG owns the Bluetooth word mark and logos, and use of such marks is under license.